Afghanistan

Street demonstrations continue in Afghanistan in support of Malalai Joya, an MP who was suspended for criticising warlords and other ‘criminals’ in parliament. “Down with fundamentalism” could be read on some banners whilst some flyers warned that the incident was causing “anger throughout Afghanistan.”

In addition to Herat the Jesuits will help in reconstruction in the Hazarajat region, one of the country’s poorest and most inaccessible regions. Local authorities and population look “favourably” at their arrival. The arrival of a fourth community of Catholic nuns is imminent.

Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan agree to build new pipelines to carry Turkmen gas through Russia. European hopes for a pipeline under the Caspian Sea are dashed. Turkmen president tries to be reassuring saying that he is studying other routes as well. For experts, China is Russia’s main rival in the area.

It is hard to measure the impact of the death of the Taliban commander. The government is tight-lipped. Analysts point out the Talibans’ main leader is still alive and hiding somewhere in Pakistan. For them there are two possible consequences: the conflict either escalates or there is a major push for the government’s national reconciliation process.

On Press Freedom Day journalists remember the censorship, attacks, prison and murder they frequently face in many Asian countries. The ‘democratic’ West is indifferent. China represses its cyber-dissident. The bishop of Lahore speaks out on the issue.

The West is not the only victim of Islamic violence, it also targets Buddhists, Hindus and other Muslims, Sunni and Shiite. Islamism and Shariah are the unjust wounds of which Islam must be healed

In the “Urbi ed Orbi” message, Benedict XVI recalls the pains and troubles which afflict today’s world to urge humanity to rediscover the true face of God, which is love for mankind.

In China a youth dies in an area believed to be free of infection among birds. In Indonesia the disease takes another two lives, in western Sumatra and Jakarta. Meanwhile other states, such as Afghanistan and Egypt, race to block the live bird trade.

Kabul decides to open Islamic schools under government control, where general culture studies, computers and foreign languages will figure on the curriculum beside religious studies. Education Minister: “The enemies of democracy in this country are actually using education as a weapon of terrorism”. Teacher formation programmes for men and women also planned.

In an interview with AsiaNews Italian Ambassador Sequi talks about the controversy surrounding the Mastrogiacomo affair. For Italy life has no nationality. Contacts with Afghan authorities continue in order to get Afghan interpreter released from Taliban hands. Local and Italian press held a constructive meeting in Kabul yesterday.

In Rome and Kabul Afghans say they are “happy” for the Italian journalist’s release but are “worried” about their compatriots’ fate and possible retaliations against Italy. News about the fate of the murdered driver’s body is contradictory. Information about the interpreter’s whereabouts is also unclear. Freed with the Italian journalist, he is said to be either in the hands of Afghan intelligence or still prisoner of the Talibans.

Islamist websites are posting boastful congratulatory notes for the release of five Taliban prisoners as well as pledges to continue the fight. Politically, the Talibans have scored big and can now claim that they recognised as would-be parties to any peace conference. Bitterness instead fills the hearts of ordinary Afghans and the relatives of the decapitated driver.